Live The Active Life

This coming Saturday I will do my first century ride in almost three years. Since it has been a while since I’ve ridden 100 miles in one day I want to make sure that I am as prepared as possible. Based on my experience, about 15 centuries, I know that there are a few key areas I need to address properly in order to have the best chance of getting a good result from the ride.

Nutrition

This is the most important area as far as I am concerned. If I don’t eat enough of the right foods my day will be more more difficult than it needs to be. I will be riding for somewhere between 5-7 hours, depending on the terrain, how I feel, weather, etc. When the ride is that long getting a constant stream of calories is important in order to keep the energy level up and avoid “bonking” (running out of energy and being unable to do anything until you replenish the energy reserves, NOT fun). For me that means I need to consume between 300-500 calories an hour while riding. Here is how I will do that:

1. Eat a diet of 60-70% carbohydrates, 10-20% protein, and 20-30% fat this week. I will track my food intake just to make sure I am in the right ranges.
2. Eat a light breakfast when I get up on Saturday morning, about two hours before the ride. This will probably be some orange juice and a Clif Bar or two since we will be in a hotel and getting up at 6AM.
3. Begin eating about 30 minutes into the ride and maintain the 300-500 calorie intake each hour until finished. I will do this by alternating between Hammer Nutrition Perpetuem mixed in one of my water bottles and Clif Bars. I will carry a ziploc bag with the Perpetuem mix in it and add it to my water bottle as needed. Each bottle of Perpetuem has about 260 calories. I also will carry a flask of Hammer Gel to give me a quick boost if I need it, especially while climbing. In all I will be carrying about 4 cliff bars and 4 servings of Perpetuem, along with the Hammer gel flask. If I need more I can get some peanuts, bananas, or cookies at the rest stops along the ride.

Hydration

Drinking enough liquids is key to doing well on a long ride. Not getting enough liquids during a prolonged effort like this can be dangerous. I will carry two water bottles on my bike, one filled with water mixed with Perpetuem, and the other with plain water or water mixed with Hammer Heed, an electrolyte drink. I will drink at least 1 bottle per hour on this ride and refill at the rest stops along the way. The weather won’t be too hot this weekend, but if it was, say over 80 degrees and humid, I would probably drink 2 bottles per hour and I would add some additional electrolytes to the water.

Pacing

I will need to make sure that I properly pace myself on this ride. I can’t start out too hard because by mile 70 or so I will find myself struggling to finish strong. I figure I should be able to average about 17mph for the entire ride. The route has a lot of climbing in it with three significant hills, the hardest one at the end of the ride. Here is the profile of the ride. I will try to maintain an average of 19-20 on the flats, 12-13 on the hills, and as fast as I can go on the downhills :-). To make sure I’m not going too hard at any one time I will watch my heart rate and power output (with this) to make sure I’m not in the red zone.

I have four days to go until the ride, and if I prepare properly, along with pacing myself during the ride, I should have a good time. Stay tuned to my Twitter profile for up to the minute ride updates via Jott and my cell phone (as long as there is cell service). I’ll post a full recap on Sunday or Monday.